My 22RE umm, "displaces" quite a bit of coolant. I will fill up the overflow reservoir and drive it 20 miles and the reservoir will be empty. After the reservoir is sucked dry, the coolant starts dropping in the radiator.

The radiator cap seems alright, and I don't believe the head gasket is bad since my oil looked fine the other day when I changed it.

When it's cold out, the back of the engine steams really bad so that seems like it could be the area of concern, and one of the cross members under and to the back of the engine usually has coolant hanging from it.

This leak is so bad that the sweet smell of antifreeze is in the air after driving it.

Are these engines known to develop coolant leaks, or should I take it somewhere and have them pressure test the system. Would they be able to find a hole in a hose, etc?

Thanks,
Rob

 

check the hoses, especially the ones going into and out of the heater core. another area of concern could be the timing belt cover.

 

Id check the hoses on the back of the engine... theres a tricky metal one that runs underneath the exh. manifold, around the back of the block and over under the intake manifold (i think on that last part, i dont really remember where it goes)... sounds like you got an external leak somewhere in the hoses....

 

That metal one has given me problems once after I kinked it taking my old motor apart, see if while idling you can seea ny coolant puddling or dripping from any general area, then follow. Its kinda a pita trying to see back, under, behind, but give it a shot.

 

[QUOTE=rdlsz24When it's cold out, the back of the engine steams really bad so that seems like it could be the area of concern, and one of the cross members under and to the back of the engine usually has coolant hanging from it.

This leak is so bad that the sweet smell of antifreeze is in the air after driving it.
[/QUOTE]



Sounds like the coolant bypass plate on the back of the head might be leaking. That or you have a leaking hose near the back.

Get it pressure tested, some shops will do it for free, hell.. it only takes a few seconds to do.

 

my bypass plate has been leakin ever since i did my head gasket job...put the whole thing together..and found out for some reason all the bolts are loose(damn machine shop).. so i tightened them..broke one of them..

 

I suspect I have a coolant leak somewhere in the back of my 22re engine. What is the coolant bypass plate and what does it look like? Are there any other coolant lines that run behind the engine?

I am trying to research this problem before I tear into it, so any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

I have a coolant leak from a hose/seal on the passenger side of my idle air valve. Kind of a weird place for it to happen, and I'm swapping it out this weekend. It's probably pretty unlikely that yours is leaking, but the seal on mine is definitely compromised.

 

Just for reference, I found that my leak was an external head gasket leak from my head being warped near the rear most cylinder:

https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f116/22re-external-head-gasket-leak-pics-inside-99023/

I had no coolant in the oil, no loss of power, no white smoke, no overheating... basically no signs of a blown head gasket. I was just losing lots of coolant.

Rob

 

Yup, that was the same problem I had Rob- no internal leak of coolant- an axternal leak down the driver side block of the engine. The previous owner did not have the head machined when they rebuilt the engin.